With my husband recently back in the UK on a flying visit from New Zealand we had a long list of things we wanted to do during that limited time together, one of these (and to be honest it had been on the list since before he went to New Zealand) was to go to Six by Nico.
If you don't know the concept of Six by Nico they showcase a new menu of six dishes telling a story themed on a different place or memory every six weeks. The first Six by Nico opened in Glasgow, where the chef Nico Simeone hails from, and the Edinburgh one opened last year. Since opening in Edinburgh I've followed the restaurant's social media avidly and seen different themes including 'The Chippie', a Willy Wonka theme and a Middle East theme come and go but with the announcement just before Christmas that the next one was to be a 'best of 2018' theme exactly when my husband would be back in the UK it finally seemed the perfect time to have our first Six by Nico experience.
Once the theme was announced the restaurant's social media channels gave all of us the opportunity to choose what would be on the menu. Two dishes for each course from previous themes from 2018 were chosen and the followers asked to vote for their favourite. Despite having not been before I totally embraced the voting on each course based purely on what sounded the nicest to me. From all the votes the final six dishes were then chosen.
The winning dishes were chips and cheese, buffalo chicken, pappardelle ragu, cod fish supper, duck duck goose and the big apple. You can choose to have the tasting menu as is for £28 or for an extra £25 with a wine pairing to accompany each course. We opted for the wine pairing menu with each matched wine (with very generous servings) really bringing the course to life. In a 'it's a small world' moment we ended up having a lovely Sicilian red (and I'm not a big red wine drinker but this was very pleasant) with, what also turned out to be one of our favourite dishes of the menu, the pappardelle ragu twice in one week. It was, as I said above a very hectic few days and we were out dining every evening that week. The night before we'd enjoyed a Christmas present of an Italian wine tasting which had included trying a Feudo Maccari, Nere Nero d'Avola, little did we know we'd get to enjoy another glass the next evening as well.
The food, after the long wait to get to Six by Nico, didn't disappoint, each dish was beautifully presented and delicious but the stand out ones for me were the chips and cheese, so simple but tasting exactly like chips and curry sauce, a fun twist on that staple of many a night out in my younger days. The pappardelle ragu (as I said before) and, perhaps not surprisingly given my renowned sweet tooth, the big apple dessert which resembled the shiniest of red apples that would not have looked out of place in the hands of the evil Queen in Snow White but thankfully was far far nicer. The ragu melted in the mouth and the parmesan crisps were a wonderfully crunchy contrast. The dessert was a combination of both sweetness and sharpness and rather than a wine this dish was paired with a strawberry cider from the Dunbar based Thistly Cross, though very sweet it worked perfectly with the dessert.
A handy thing to note, if you're thinking about booking, is that if there are any courses that you don't want you can swap the dish out for the vegetarian option. I'm not a massive fish eater and whilst the fish dish with this menu was lovely (though my husband did get a couple of extra mussels on his plate) it's good to know if we go again and it's really something I don't think I would do justice to I can change it.
We'd heard and read lots of good stuff about Six by Nico and it didn't disappoint, it's amazing value and worthy of any special occasion or simply just because. For our first time I think the best of menu was the perfect choice as we got to try the year's stand out favourites of all the regular diners. The service was fantastic and we were very well looked after by our lovely waitress. From our table we had a good view of the chefs preparing everyone's dishes and in addition to this there are also TV screens placed in the restaurant that give everyone there a bird's eye view of the dishes being plated up. This particular menu is almost finished and the next one, a Paris themed menu launches on the 5 March. I cant wait to get back again at some point and if you haven't been yet then you should book yourself in very soon.
If you don't know the concept of Six by Nico they showcase a new menu of six dishes telling a story themed on a different place or memory every six weeks. The first Six by Nico opened in Glasgow, where the chef Nico Simeone hails from, and the Edinburgh one opened last year. Since opening in Edinburgh I've followed the restaurant's social media avidly and seen different themes including 'The Chippie', a Willy Wonka theme and a Middle East theme come and go but with the announcement just before Christmas that the next one was to be a 'best of 2018' theme exactly when my husband would be back in the UK it finally seemed the perfect time to have our first Six by Nico experience.
Once the theme was announced the restaurant's social media channels gave all of us the opportunity to choose what would be on the menu. Two dishes for each course from previous themes from 2018 were chosen and the followers asked to vote for their favourite. Despite having not been before I totally embraced the voting on each course based purely on what sounded the nicest to me. From all the votes the final six dishes were then chosen.
The winning dishes were chips and cheese, buffalo chicken, pappardelle ragu, cod fish supper, duck duck goose and the big apple. You can choose to have the tasting menu as is for £28 or for an extra £25 with a wine pairing to accompany each course. We opted for the wine pairing menu with each matched wine (with very generous servings) really bringing the course to life. In a 'it's a small world' moment we ended up having a lovely Sicilian red (and I'm not a big red wine drinker but this was very pleasant) with, what also turned out to be one of our favourite dishes of the menu, the pappardelle ragu twice in one week. It was, as I said above a very hectic few days and we were out dining every evening that week. The night before we'd enjoyed a Christmas present of an Italian wine tasting which had included trying a Feudo Maccari, Nere Nero d'Avola, little did we know we'd get to enjoy another glass the next evening as well.
 |
| Chips and Cheese (from The Chippie) - parmesan espuma, crisp potato, curry oil |
 |
| Buffalo Chicken (from New York) - sprouting broccoli, gorgonzola royale, pickled celery |
 |
| Pappardelle Ragu (from Sicily) - saffron pappardelle, ox cheek ragu, parmigiano reggiano |
 |
| Cod Fish Supper (from The Chippie) - Shetland cod, beer emulsion, pickled mussels, confit fennel, samphire |
 |
| Duck Duck Goose (from Childhood 2.0) - roasted breast, leg cannelloni, parsley root puree, crispy queen kale |
 |
| The Big Apple (from New York) - New York cheesecake, tonka bean granola, lemon curd |
The food, after the long wait to get to Six by Nico, didn't disappoint, each dish was beautifully presented and delicious but the stand out ones for me were the chips and cheese, so simple but tasting exactly like chips and curry sauce, a fun twist on that staple of many a night out in my younger days. The pappardelle ragu (as I said before) and, perhaps not surprisingly given my renowned sweet tooth, the big apple dessert which resembled the shiniest of red apples that would not have looked out of place in the hands of the evil Queen in Snow White but thankfully was far far nicer. The ragu melted in the mouth and the parmesan crisps were a wonderfully crunchy contrast. The dessert was a combination of both sweetness and sharpness and rather than a wine this dish was paired with a strawberry cider from the Dunbar based Thistly Cross, though very sweet it worked perfectly with the dessert.
A handy thing to note, if you're thinking about booking, is that if there are any courses that you don't want you can swap the dish out for the vegetarian option. I'm not a massive fish eater and whilst the fish dish with this menu was lovely (though my husband did get a couple of extra mussels on his plate) it's good to know if we go again and it's really something I don't think I would do justice to I can change it.
We'd heard and read lots of good stuff about Six by Nico and it didn't disappoint, it's amazing value and worthy of any special occasion or simply just because. For our first time I think the best of menu was the perfect choice as we got to try the year's stand out favourites of all the regular diners. The service was fantastic and we were very well looked after by our lovely waitress. From our table we had a good view of the chefs preparing everyone's dishes and in addition to this there are also TV screens placed in the restaurant that give everyone there a bird's eye view of the dishes being plated up. This particular menu is almost finished and the next one, a Paris themed menu launches on the 5 March. I cant wait to get back again at some point and if you haven't been yet then you should book yourself in very soon.
Comments
Post a Comment